Stuart Whatley

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For those who just aren't ready for it all to be over, there's Minnesota's Senate race . With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is leading this morning by only 727 votes out of the 2.9 million that were cast. His challenger, Al Franken , is calling for a recount and has cited reported "irregularities" for some Minneapolis voters who were unable to register. Minnesota law subjects any vote-count margin under 15,000 to a recount, making it very likely for this race. The last recount in Minnesota occurred during the 1962 gubernatorial race. This will prolong the most expensive and one of the most contentious electoral clashes this year, possibly lasting into Decembe,r and has been endearingly referred to by MinnPost.com as "our own little Bush-Gore". --Stuart Whatley

Kentucky : It looks like Mitch McConnell has defeated Bruce Lunsford and the Democrats' attempt to topple the Republican leadership in the Senate. Georgia : Though it is not final, Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss enjoys a substantial lead against his challenger, Jim Martin and looks to be well enough ahead, with 73 percent of precincts reporting, to claim it. New Hampshire : In this anticipated rematch of the 2002 Senatorial race, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen has earned MSNBC and CNN's prestigious "check-mark of victory" over Republican incumbent John Sununu , with only 46 percent of precincts reporting so far. North Carolina : Here is an anxiously anticipated upset: Kay Hagan seems to have beaten Elizabeth Dole , with 85 percent of precincts reporting, to conquer the Senate seat held previously by Jesse Helms . Minnesota : The jury is still out on a close race in Minnesota. At this moment, CNN has Democratic challenger Al Franken just two points ahead of Republican incumbent Norm...

Editors' Note: Stuart Whatley , a fall 2008 Prospect editorial intern, did a great job finding the best places to get election results next Tuesday so that we could link to them in our 2008 election night guide (as it turns out CNN.com is probably your best bet most of the time). We asked him to break down the best and worst state Web sites: While some state government Web sites are on the ball and have already set up a page for tracking election results, others seem to be unaware that there is even an election at all. For those hoping to track results in their home state next Tuesday, here is a cursory list of just a few of the best and the worst state government election sites. Worst Minnesota : Though it's a state with an extremely close and important Senate race, the Minnesota Secretary of State's Election Board website seems to be pretty worthless where it really counts. Though it has some of the necessary features, such as a vaguely labeled icon for "Voter Information" and...

In her October column on ballot initiatives, Dana Goldstein points out conservatives' tendency to employ language in their initiatives that is antithetical to their intended goal. Ward Connerly's "civil-rights initiatives," for example, seek to quash affirmative-action programs. But perhaps no group has demonstrated greater dissonance between rhetoric and reality as the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). The ADF is a primary player in the push to pass the California Protection of Marriage Act (Proposition 8), which calls for the explicit revocation , not protection, of the gay community's new-found right to marry. Following the ADF's defeat in California's In re Marriage Cases in May, when the court ruled that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, the ADF found reinforcements in other conservative groups such as ProtectMarriage, the National Organization for Marriage and Focus on the Family. In the following months, this conservative conglomeration successfully garnered over one...

On Wednesday the Senate, by an 86 to 13 vote, approved the U.S.-India nuclear trade agreement , obliquely known as the 123 Agreement . India will now share in the perks enjoyed by Israel and Pakistan as a recognized de facto nuclear state that has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Under the agreement, India will lose its nuclear trade windfall if it conducts any more nuclear tests, which it has done twice before in 1974 and 1998. The 123 Agreement has far-reaching implications and indicates India's increased clout on the world scene, but, to our enemies, the 123 Agreement will be perceived as yet another case of hypocritical favoritism. America's own shortcomings in adhering to the NPT have been pointed out in the past by Iran which, unlike India, Pakistan, and Israel, is a signatory. The third tenet of the NPT grants signatory states the right to pursue peaceful nuclear power and is thus what Iran is able to point to in its nuclear pursuits. Meanwhile, the second...